Walker Falls Short Of Advancing At Elite Series Event On Table Rock Lake

Nearly every angler in the Bassmaster Elite Series event this week on Table Rock Lake lamented not being able to bring in that one big fish, and Cabela's/GEICO For Your Boat pro David Walker was no different.

After a sixth-place finish at the previous Elite Series tournament, Walker was unable to translate that success on Table Rock Lake. He improved on his first-day catch, but his two-day weight of 23 pounds, 1 ounce left him out of the top 50 who advance to Saturday.

"It didn't happen for me," Walker said. "These bad ones make you appreciate the good ones that much more."

Walker's bag Friday was 11 pounds, 13 ounces, but he came up less than 2 pounds from advancing.

"I finally got that one fish that I really needed to land but didn't land it; I just lost the fish," Walker said. "I don't know what I could've done differently. Now I wish it would've never bit. It's tough to take because you know how rare that one big fish is. It's not like, 'Well, I'll go catch another one.' Yeah, right."

The near-catch of the big fish came around 2 p.m. Friday.

"I was flipping a jig in a tree, and I had a fish hit the bait," Walker said. "I caught a lot of fish doing that today. This one, when I set the hook, I realized it was pulling a lot harder than the others, and I could see it in the clear water. Me and my marshal could both see how big it was."

Walker estimated it to be around 6 to 7 pounds, which easily would have moved him into the top 50. As he maneuvered his boat to get closer to the fish, it swam into open water and Walker's spirits rose.

"Now, I've got it hooked in open water, and I thought, 'This deal is over; I've got her,' " Walker said. "She kept coming to the boat just fine, and right next to the boat, she did another head shake, and the jig popped loose. The fish basically just laid there. It was as surprised that it was hooked and came off as I was."

Walker could only watch as his tournament chances slowly swam away.

"That was $10,000 plus the points," Walker said. "There's a lot that goes along with it. Guys talk about losing fish, but it's not so much that one fish. It's a season of accumulative weight, and me being sent home tomorrow, I have no chance of improvement."

Walker did that in Palatka, Fla., the most recent Elite event, where he gained more than 40 points in the Angler of the Year standings because of his sixth-place finish.

"That's how this fishing business is," Walker said. "You've got to learn to suck it up because a lot of that is going to happen to you."

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